This invention relates to solar energy collectors particularly of the type that conventionally comprise metallic tubing carrying a circulating medium such as water which absorbs heat from solar rays and transports it to a place where it is to be utilized or stored. For maximum exposure to such rays, the tubing has heretofore been arranged in a variety of patterns in close proximity to reflecting surfaces (frequently moveable to follow the path of the sun) so that the tubes will be struck and heated not only by the direct but also by some of the reflected rays. The prior art has, for example, employed semi-circular and semi-rectangular reflectors partially embracing or surrounding the tubes; but these have at best resulted in uneven distribution of the rays circumferentially of the tubes with resultant peripherally non-uniform heating which seriously limits the heat transfer efficiency of the assembly. Moreover, the prior art devices have not been capable of focusing a maximum amount of the solar rays striking the collector upon the tubes which has resulted in further inefficiency.
Because the efficiency of the energy collection, heat absorption and heat transfer of the prior art devices has been relatively low, it has been necessary to employ relatively large and cumbersome collector assemblies in relatively large numbers to provide sufficient energy to heat a house or building for example or even to heat water to be consumed by the inhabitants of a particular building. In many cases, practical limitations of space available to accommodate such large structures and/or large numbers of collectors have simply made it impossible to provide sufficient collector capacity to make the use of such devices a viable alternative to other heating methods and systems. In almost all other cases, the cost of the collectors and the required auxilliary structures to mount them has been such as to render solar heating economically unfeasible. Additionally, the adaptation of heavy supporting structures with devices capable of moving the reflectors to track facing the sun during the course of its relative travel across the sky has been exceedingly and prohibitively expensive to the extent that the otherwise desirable tracking feature has not been available for most actual commercial or residential applications of solar heating. The improved efficiencies of the system according to the within invention substantially reduce this problem and render the use of tracking mechanisms much less complicated and expensive.
It is accordingly a general object of this invention to provide a more efficient solar energy collector capable of absorbing and utilizing a greater amount of energy embodied in the impinging rays of the sun than has heretofore been achieved with prior art devices of the same or comparable sizes and weights.